Design happens everywhere, whether in animate objects (e.g., dendritic lung structures, bacterial colonies, and corals), inanimate patterns (river basins, beach slope, and dendritic crystals), social dynamics (pedestrian traffic flows), or engineered systems (heat dissipation in electronic circuitry). This design in nature often takes on remarkably similar patterns, which can be explained under one unifying Constructal Law. This book explores the unifying power of the Constructal Law and its applications in all domains of design generation and evolution, ranging from biology and geophysics to globalization, energy, sustainability, and security.
The Constructal Law accounts for the universal tendency of flow systems to morph into evolving configurations that provide greater and easier access over time. The Constructal Law resolves the many and contradictory ad hoc statements of optimality, end design, and destiny in nature, such as minimum and maximum entropy production and minimum and maximum flow resistance, and also explains the designs that are observed and copied in biomimetics.
"Constructal Law and the Unifying Principle of Design" covers the fundamentals of Constructal Theory and Design, as well as presenting a variety ofstate-of-the-art applications. Experts from the biological, physical and social sciences demonstrate the unification of all design phenomena in nature, and apply this knowledge to novel designs in modern engineering, such as vascularization for self-healing and self-cooling materials for aircraft, and tree fins and cavities for heat transfer enhancement.

SOIL: beneath our feet / food and fiber / ashes to ashes, dust to dust / dirt

Soil has been called the final frontier of environmental research. The critical role of soil in biogeochemical processes is tied to its properties and place porous, structured, and spatially variable, it serves as a conduit, buffer, and transformer of water, solutes and gases. Yet what is complex, life-giving, and sacred to some, is ordinary, even ugly, to others. This is the enigma that is soil.

Soil and Culture explores the perception of soil in ancient, traditional, and modern societies. It looks at the visual arts (painting, textiles, sculpture, architecture, film, comics and stamps), prose & poetry, religion, philosophy, anthropology, archaeology, wine production, health & diet, and disease & warfare.

Soil and Culture explores high culture and popular culture from the paintings of Hieronymus Bosch to the films of Steve McQueen. It looks at ancient societies and contemporary artists. Contributors from a variety of disciplines delve into the mind of Carl Jung and the bellies of soil eaters, and explore Chinese paintings, African mud cloths, Mayan rituals, Japanese films, French comic strips, and Russian poetry.

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Highlighting the latest research on Actualistic Taphonomy (AT), this book presents the outcomes of a meeting that took place in Montevideo, Uruguay, in October 2017. Its respective chapters offer valuable insights into South American archaeology, invertebrate and vertebrate fauna, and flora. In recent years, there has been a surge of new research on AT, as evidenced by numerous papers, talks, theses, etc. However, there are still very few AT books or even dedicated journal articles. Reflecting the discipline's newfound maturity, this book, written by South American authors, offers a unique resource for academics and students of Paleontology, Geology, and Biology around the world.

Cratons and Fold Belts of India, is a unique attempt at presenting geological characteristics and evolution of the fold belts and the cratonic areas of the Indian shield. The author has evaluated the different evolutionary models for each fold belt in light of all the currently available geological and geochronological informations that are clearly listed. Shortcomings, if any, of each model are stated and a viable geodynamic model is presented for each fold belt. The book is self-contained it includes an introduction to the processes of mountain building, especially plate tectonics theory with its application to the evolution of the Himalaya as an illustrative example so that the reader can better appreciate the novel approach to the evolution of Proterozoic fold belts. The author eschews a detailed account of the fold belts for a clear description of all the concepts that go into building models. It is primarily written for graduate students, teachers and for those geoscientists who aspire to know all about the Indian shield."

This compilation has been designed to provide a comprehensive source of theoretical and practical update for scientists working in the broad field of soil science. The book explores all possible mechanisms and means to improve nutrient use efficiencies involving developing and testing of nanofertilizers, developing consortia based microbial formulations for mobilization of soil nutrients, and engineering of nutrient efficient crops using molecular biology and biotechnological tools. This is an all-inclusive collection of information about soil science. This book is of interest to teachers, researchers, soil scientists, capacity builders and policymakers. Also the book serves as additional reading material for undergraduate and graduate students of soil science, quantitative ecology, earth sciences, GIS and geodetic sciences, as well as geologists, geomorphologists, hydrologists and landscape ecology. National and international agriculture and soil scientists, policy makers will also find this to be a useful read.

Mediterranean islands exhibit many similarities in their biotic ecological, physical and environmental characteristics. There are also many differences in terms of their human colonization and current anthropogenic pressures. This book addresses in three sections these characteristics and examines the major environmental changes that the islands experienced during the Quaternary period. The first section provides details on natural and cultural factors which have shaped island landscapes. It describes the environmental and cultural changes of the Holocene and their effects on biota, as well as on the current human pressures that are now threats to the sustainability of the island communities. The second section focuses on the landscapes of the largest islands namely Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Cyprus, Crete, Malta and the Balearics. Each island chapter includes a special topic reflecting a particular characteristic of the island. Part three presents strategies for action towards sustainability in Mediterranean islands and concludes with a comparison between the largest islands. Despite several published books on Mediterranean ecosystems/landscapes there is no existing book dealing with Mediterranean islands in a collective manner. Students, researchers and university lecturers in environmental science, geography, biology and ecology will find this work invaluable as a cross-disciplinary text while planners and politicians will welcome the succinct summaries as background material to planning decisions.

Since the dissolution of the Soviet Union almost a decade ago, there has been rapid evolution of interactions between the Western nations and individual countries of the former Soviet Union. As part of that interaction, the autonomous independent Republic of Azerbaijan through its scientific arm, the Geological Institute of the Azerbaijan Academy of Sciences under the Directorship of Academician Akif Ali-Zadeh and Deputy Director Ibrahim Guliev, arranged for personnel to be seconded to the University of South Carolina. The idea here was to see to what extent a quantitative understanding could be achieved of the evolution of the Azerbaijan part of the South Caspian Basin from dynamical, thermal and hydrocarbon perspectives. The Azeris brought with them copious amounts of data collected over decades which, together with the quantitative numerical codes available at USC, enabled a concerted effort to be put forward, culminating in two large books (Evolution of the South Caspian Basin: Geological Risks and Probable Hazards, 675 pps; and The South Caspian Basin: Stratigraphy, Geochemistry, and Risk Analysis, of which were published by the Azerbaijan Academy of 472 pps. ) both Sciences, and also many scientific papers. Thus, over the last four to five years an integrated comprehensive start has been made to understand the hydrocarbon proneness of the South Caspian Basin. In the course of the endeavor to understand the basinal evolution, it became clear that a variety of natural hazards occur in the Basin.

This book contains selected contributions from the geoENV96 - First European Conference on Geostatistics for Environmental Applications, held in Lisbon in November 1996. This is the first of a geoENV series of biennial planned books. The series is intended to show the state of the art of geostatistics in environmental applications with new cases, results and relevant discussions from leading researchers and practitioners around the world. New and important theoretical and practical developments of geostatistics in the environmental field were compiled from three main areas: Hydrology, Groundwater and Groundwater Contamination Soil Contamination and Site Remediation Air Pollution, Ecology and Other Applications The book presents a set of geostatistical tools and approaches used to successfully resolve a variety of specific problems in environment modelling, especially those resulting from the typical scarcity of spatial sampling, the time component of very dynamic systems, the modelling of various systems of contaminants, the uncertainty assessment of health cost functions, etc. Prominent topics concerning methodological tools and methods, stochastic simulation techniques, models of integrating soft information (seismic and remote sensing images), inverse modelling of groundwater flow, neural network classification, change of support and up-scaling are also included in this book. This publication will be of great interest and practical value to geostatisticians working both in universities and in industry.

30% discount for members of The Mineralogical Society of Britain and Ireland The movement of fluids through rocks has profound consequences for the transport of heat and matter within the Earth. Recently, considerable effort has been expended in determining the mechanisms and pathways of geological fluid flow, with much of this research concentrated on the effects of deformation on rock permeability. Although it is well known that fractures can act as conduits for fluid transport (as evidenced by abundant mineral-fined veins and sheet-like igneous intrusions), the role of ductile deformation has now been recognised as an important factor controlling rock permeability in environments as diverse as the mantle, the deep crust, and shallow crustal shear zones. This book brings together review and research articles united by the theme of deformation-enhanced fluid transport, with the aim of emphasizing the many common roots of this important body of work. Subjects covered include the movement of basaltic melts in the mantle; the segregation, ascent and emplacement of granitic melts in the crust; the flow through the crust of volatile fluids produced during metamorphic events; and the movement of aqueous fluids through fractured rocks near the Earth's surface. Deformation-Enhanced Fluid Transport in the Earth's Crust and Mantle will appeal to all geoscientists interested in the movement of fluids through the Earth. It will prove an invaluable reference work for those working in the field and will provide i useful introduction to this wide-ranging and rapidly evolving area of research for non-specialists.

Land Degradation and Desertification: Assessment, Mitigation, and Remediation reports research results in sustainable land management and land degradation status and mitigation in 36 countries around the world. It includes background papers with continental and international perspectives dealing with land degradation and desertification studies. The book assembles various topics of interest for a large audience. They include carbon sequestration and stocks, modern techniques to trace the trends of land degradation, traditional and modern approaches of resource-base conservation, soil fertility management, reforestation, rangeland rehabilitation, land use planning, GIS techniques in desertification risk cartography, participatory ecosystem management, policy analyses and possible plans for action. Various climatic domains in Africa, Asia, Europe and The Americas are covered. The book will be of interest to a variety of environmental scientists, agronomists, national and international policy makers and a number of organizations dealing with sustainable management of natural resources.

As is now generally accepted mankinda (TM)s burning of fossil fuels has resulted in the mass transfer of greenhouse gases, like CO2, to the atmosphere and a measurable change in the global climate. While the reduced use of fossil fuels must be our ultimate goal in order to reverse this trend, short to medium term solutions are needed which can make an impact today. Various CO2 abatement strategies have been proposed, with deep geological storage being one of the most promising. The present volume organises presentations given by leading international researchers at a NATO Advanced Research Workshop (held in Tomsk, Russia in November of 2004) on the state-of-the-art of geological storage of CO2. The book is divided into 5 parts. Part 1 provides background by describing how human activities are modifying the atmosphere in industrially-active areas in Siberia. Part 2 outlines the innovative idea of using deep permafrost layers as either impermeable boundaries below which CO2 can be injected or as a cooling source for the formation CO2 clathrates. Part 3 describes recent studies conducted on naturally occurring CO2 reservoirs, sites which have the potential to help us understand the possible long-term evolution of CO2 storage sites. Part 4 outlines various industrial-scale applications of CO2 geological storage and shows it to be technically practical, economically feasible and, to date, very safe. Finally Part 5 gives us a view of the future, showing how energy uses are predicted to change over the next 50 years and how the public must be involved in any future decisions regarding climate change abatement.

Seismic Imaging Methods and Application for Oil and Gas Exploration connects the legacy of field data processing and imaging with new research methods using diffractions and anisotropy in the field of geophysics. Topics covered include seismic data acquisition, seismic data processing, seismic wave modeling, high-resolution imaging, and anisotropic modeling and imaging. This book is a necessary resource for geophysicist working in the oil and gas and mineral exploration industries, as well as for students and academics in exploration geophysics.

This book presents the essential principles and applications of seismic oil-exploration techniques. It concisely covers all stages in exploration activities (data field acquisition, data processing and interpretation), supplementing the main text with a wealth of (>350) illustrations and figures. The book concentrates on the physics of the applied principles, avoiding intricate mathematical treatment and lengthy theoretical reasoning. A further prominent feature is the inclusion of a separate chapter on 3D surveying techniques and another, equally important chapter on seismic digital signals and the aliasing problem, which is presented in an accessible form. The book is designed to meet the needs of both the academic and industrial worlds. University students and employees of oil-exploration companies alike will find the book to be a valuable resource.

Multiphase systems dominate nearly every area of science and technology, and the method of volume averaging provides a rigorous foundation for the analysis of these systems. The development is based on classical continuum physics, and it provides both the spatially smoothed equations and a method of predicting the effective transport coefficients that appear in those equations. The text is based on a ten-week graduate course that has been taught for more than 20 years at the University of California at Davis and at other universities around the world. Problems dealing with both the theoretical foundations and the applications are included with each chapter, and detailed solutions for all problems are available from the author. The course has attracted participants from chemical engineering, mechanical engineering, civil engineering, hydrologic science, mathematics, chemistry and physics.

"Advanced Techniques in Soil Microbiology" presents a wide range of biotechnological methods for application in soil microbiology analysis. These include all essential methods involving molecular biology, immunology, microbiology, and structural biology, such as transcriptome analysis, RNAi technology, molecular matchmaking, RAPD, T-RFLP and FT/MS.

The techniques and procedures have been selected with the aim of offering practical guides for immediate use in the laboratory. The systems investigated range from individual molecules and cells to entire eukaryotic organisms, with a focus on bacteria, fungi, mycorrhiza, and higher plants. This volume of state-of-the-art, practice oriented methods will be of great use both to the first-timer and to the experienced scientist.

This book provides in-depth reviews of the effects of nanoparticles on the soil environment, their interactions with plants and also their potential applications as nanofertilizers and pesticides. It offers insights into the current trends and future prospects of nanotechnology, including the benefits and risks and the impact on agriculture and soil ecosystems. Individual chapters explore topics such as nanoparticle biosynthesis, engineered nanomaterials, the use of nanoclays for remediation of polluted sites, nanomaterials in water desalination, their effect on seed germination, plant growth, and nutrient transformations in soil, as well as the use of earthworms as bioremediating agents for nanoparticles. It is a valuable resource for researchers in academia and industry working in the field of agriculture, crop protection, plant sciences, applied microbiology, soil biology and environmental sciences.

This book explores the impact of augmenting novel architectural designs with hardware-based application accelerators. The text covers comprehensive aspects of the applications in Geographic Information Science, remote sensing and deploying Modern Accelerator Technologies (MAT) for geospatial simulations and spatiotemporal analytics. MAT in GIS applications, MAT in remotely sensed data processing and analysis, heterogeneous processors, many-core and highly multi-threaded processors and general purpose processors are also presented. This book includes case studies and closes with a chapter on future trends. Modern Accelerator Technologies for GIS is a reference book for practitioners and researchers working in geographical information systems and related fields. Advanced-level students in geography, computational science, computer science and engineering will also find this book useful.

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations, and applications in the field of computational geomechanics, as presented by international researchers and engineers at the 16th International Conference of the International Association for Computer Methods and Advances in Geomechanics (IACMAG 2020/21). Contributions include a wide range of topics in geomechanics such as: monitoring and remote sensing, multiphase modelling, reliability and risk analysis, surface structures, deep structures, dams and earth structures, coastal engineering, mining engineering, earthquake and dynamics, soil-atmosphere interaction, ice mechanics, landfills and waste disposal, gas and petroleum engineering, geothermal energy, offshore technology, energy geostructures, geomechanical numerical models and computational rail geotechnics.

This book addresses the characterization of flow and transport in porous fractured media from experimental and modeling perspectives. It provides a comprehensive presentation of investigations performed and analyzed on different scales.

This book examines relationships between climate-hydrological changes and other phenomena including land use and natural disasters during the Holocene and recent past. In particular, periods of rapid climatic shifts such as global warming and global cooling are examined through paleohydrological and other studies of various lake-catchment systems in East Asia, from Mongolia in the north to Taiwan in the south. A number of different research techniques are used in the work presented here, including sediment analysis and optically stimulated luminescence dating and the reader learns how the lake-catchment system functions as a "proxy observatory" for past and present environmental monitoring. The lake catchments studied by the authors of this volume are under similar climatic conditions, i.e., under the East Asia monsoon, with some systematic difference in climatic factors. Both proxy and observation data are available for the surrounding countries' provisions against natural disasters that are related to climate-hydrological events and readers will see how present instrumental observation data can be connected to past proxy data (sediment information) in the system.

This is the first book that analyses the future raw materials supply from the demand side of a society that chiefly relies on renewable energies, which is of great significance for us all. It addresses primary and secondary resources and substitution, not only from technical but also socioeconomic and ethical points of view. The "Energiewende" (Energy Transition) will change our consumption of natural resources significantly. When in future our energy requirements will be covered mostly by wind, solar power and biomass, we will need less coal, oil and natural gas. However, the consumption of minerals, especially metallic resources, will increase to build wind generators, solar panels or energy storage facilities. Besides e.g. copper, nickel or cobalt, rare earth elements and other high-tech elements will be increasingly used. With regard to primary metals, Germany is 100 % import dependent; only secondary material is produced within Germany. Though sufficient geological primary resources exist worldwide, their availability on the market is crucial. The future supply of the market is dependent on the development of prices, the transparency of the market and the question of social and ethical standards in the raw materials industry, as well as the social license to operate, which especially applies to mining. The book offers a valuable resource for everyone interested in the future raw material supply of our way of life, which will involve more and more renewable energies.

This monograph is based on subsurface hydrodynamics and applied geomechanics and places them in a unifying framework. It focuses on the understanding of physical and mechanical properties of geomaterials by presenting mathematical models of deformation and fracture with related experiments.

The thesis of Anna Alexandra Vackiner focuses on the geometric architecture and tectonic evolution of the Permian series, combining seismic interpretation (3D block), field studies in an analogue basin (Panamint Valley in California), as well as 2D restoration of representative cross sections through time in order to illustrate the complex interaction between multiphase extension, inversion and salt diapirism. It will be of major interest for exploration geologists involved in tectonically complex areas. - Francois Roure, August 2012 This thesis improves the understanding and localization of the Upper Rotliegend II tight gas reservoir rock facies. It provides insights into the detailed Upper Rotliegend II palaeo-topography and local tectonically induced sediment thickness changes prior to a multi-phase tectonic overprinting. The research presented in this study further focuses on the tectonically induced synsedimentary facies distribution in transtensional continental settings on the basis of a comparison with a modern field analogue, which enables a detailed analysis of the reservoir rock's distribution and its properties. The study is rounded off with an analysis of the influence of the multiphase tectonic overprinting on the mature Upper Rotliegend II reservoir rocks.